Here we are, yo. Right where Jay wanted us to be. The hype is subsiding since most people got their clutches on Magna Carta Holy Grail overnight and now it’s time for the communal listening sessions to begin.

Which seems to be Jay’s goal. The sh*t’s equivalent of a rap state of the union address where everyone – lovers and haters alike – are tuned into one voice, one project. And it’s Jay’s. The first big move was having Samsung fund the worldwide listening session. The second accomplishment is truly dominating everyone’s attention, at least for today.

We know opinions are subject to change with more listens, but what cut catches your ear the most right now and keeps you pressing repeat? Could it be “Tom Ford”? The Justin Timberlake-assisted track “Holy Grail,” streaming below? If not, state your case in the comments section.

Only had time to listen to a handful of tracks because I’m at work at the moment but so far my favourite is Picasso Baby.

Drove to Subway at lunch and must’ve played that song like 3 times. Holy Grail is cool, as is Tom Ford (though I don’t understand where all the hype I saw on twitter about this song is coming from – it gave me really high expectations; I was disappointed). Fuckwithmeyouknowigotit is pretty tight. I think that’s all I’ve listened to so far.

Shit rides, production wise. He flows like a river too. Lyrically, decent but not extraordinary. The Rozay track was kinda basura but the Frank Ocean one makes up for it. I have it on my Samsung Galaxy 3, how do you get it to a computer? Or does any one have a link to a 320 kbps version?

I’m 6 songs through listening to every song twice, he 6/7. Tom ford is fucking terrible, I was waiting for hov to stop playing. That gotta be a swizz beats cut smh. Everything else fire tho, sounds like HOV is back.

Nickels and Dimes has been on repeat all last night. Holy Grail and Oceans are good favs of mine as well. Going to let this ride for awhile before making final judgments…but I like it on initial listens.

“Heaven”, “FuckWithMeYouKnowIGotIt”, “BBC” and “F.U.T.W” (all of these FTW)… For those talking reckless about whether he still has it are either bitter or have never appreciated him for his entire body of work. Jay-Z’s heaven-sent for this genre. No one has been as consistent, diligent, and represented the youthful/black/successful perspective like him in the history of hip-hop. And on MCHG he strikes again… I simply salute this man for still supplying us with this level of work. Top to bottom, there’s no artist that’ll ever be able to duplicate this level of work. Enjoy this while he’s still willing to put this out to the masses.

He came through with mediocrity, there is nothing special it’s just solid minus a few points here and there. Again, ain’t no one quoting lines save for a few comments here and there. It’s very beat driven. He just flows relatively well throughout and doesn’t say much so it’s not hard to like

It’s a dope record. Production-wise, his best since Black Album without a doubt. Timbaland did an incredible job, he deserves executive producer credit if he didn’t already get it. Flow-wise, Jay is surprisingly nimble on this.

Lyrically, it’s serviceable. But he doesn’t go too far beyond surface level. He has some dope concepts and dope imagery, but he doesn’t really dig as deep as he could – he seems to let the samples do the work for him a lot of the time.

agreed 100% lyrically its uninspired no really great verses here , but technically he’s near his best and the production is stellar. save for the truly awful tom ford. somewhereinamaerica is a great jay song.

I have to say this is one of the best albums of the year so far. I want to thank the Hip Hop Gods that Jay-Z didn’t go the YEEZUS route with this one. I fuck with the entire album and is definitely purchase worthy. Easily his best solo album in a minute.

Going off the top of my head it’s in my top 5 this year so far along with KRIT, Born Sinner, ESGN and GDOD/Day Two.

i really liked holy grail, bbc, and heavens the most. oceans was cool, beach is better and nickles and dimes were pretty dope. yea this shit makes yeezus look like some kinda joke. still wish Jay wud bring just a bit more substance with his rymes but im’ll stop somplaining becuz this is so much better than that sorry azz blueprint 3 was. honestly the only album giving this one a run for its money from a quality standpoint is born sinner and i still need a few more listens to decide which is better. MCHG does have a handful of throwaways tho but other than that, not bad…

I have listened to Jay z a stupid amount of times, especially and mostly his first album reasonable doubt and I had my doubts about this album but he blew me away with his flow on pretty much every song and i was extremely pleased. My favourites are picasso baby, crown, Fuckwithme and somewhereinamerica. I like every song except oceans, heaven and La Familia